Bellatrix in Azkaban
by Vixen1805
Summary: Bellatrix has grown increasingly mad whilst being held captive in Azkaban. The only thing keeping her sane memories of serving the Dark Lord and the hope of being reuinted with him in the future. When the opportunity presents itself Bellatrix stages a breakout, but will she be successful?


Bellatrix heard the deafening scream of one of her fellow inmates further down the corridor. With her face pressed up against the rusting bars of her cell, Bellatrix inched her face further and further forward to see whom it was who had screamed. Bellatrix's heart rate rose and breathing intensified as the meke candlelight flickering against the cobbled walls kept her in the dark, preventing her from seeing the events that were unfolding.

The unknown inmate let out another scream. This time it sounded hollower, "Whoever it is must be losing strength," Bellatrix thought to herself. "Dolhov, Rookwood, maybe Rodolphus."

Bellatrix listened closer to see if one of her fellow death-eaters screamed again, but all she could hear was the crashing of the waves against the prison walls far below her cell. It was one of the only sounds she could listen to that reminded her of the outside world.

Bellatrix's ears pricked when she heard a faint rustling down the corridor. Listening closer, she heard what sounded like the whirring of fallen leaves in the Fall and instantly knew what was to come. Dementors.

Bellatrix hurried back to the furthest wall of her cell and pushed her body as far as she could into the stone-cold walls to avoid the dementors that patrolled the corridors. She closed her eyes and held her breath, not wanting to draw attention to herself. She wasn't frightened, but without her wand she had to admit that she was vulnerable.

Bellatrix sometimes let the demontors pull at her soul. She enjoyed being reminded of her mortality. As the demontors sucked as her soul, inching the essence of her humanity further and further away from her body, Bellatrix let out a cackled laugh as she was reminded that her place on this earth was not guaranteed.

Bellatrix watched as two dementors sucked at the soul of the inmate opposite her cell.

"Please, don't do this to me!" He pleaded. But the emotionless dementors took no notice of his cries.

"He must not have any have warm memories to hold on to…that's why it's so easy for them to tear at his soul," Bellatrix thought to herself, "typical of a weak mudblood...Maybe if he was pureblood he wouldn't be so feeble," she added. Bellatrix remembered her own warm thoughts. Memories of serving Voldemort and killing muggle-lovers and mudbloods. Bellatrix imagined the pleasure she would experience after killing the muggle-lovers in her own family that brought such shame to her name, starting with Sirius, then Nymphadora. They had betrayed their pureblood heritage, their birthright and their rightful place in wizarding society.

Bellatrix was brought back to the reality of Azkaban by a chilling shiver that ran down her spine. A heavy coldness penetrated the prison as the dementor's kiss finished and all the life was sucked out of the unfortunate inmate.

As the dead inmate fell to the ground and pitiful whimpers escaped from some of the other cells, Bellatrix cackled, "filthy mudblood! He deserved to die."

Bellatrix was hardly recognisable, only the erratic shifts in her sunken eyes and glare of arrogance remained of her former self. Her black hair now resembled grainy straw more than the silky strands that used to take their place. Months without washing had taken its toll on Bellatrix's once porcelain skin, which was now flaked and scaly, resembling the cold-blooded reptilian within. Her skin was almost translucent, having not seen the sun in years and stretched over her gaunt cheekbones, which threatened to poke through her skin at any moment. Her teeth had a dull yellow stain as she pulled back her lips and let out a screeching howl.

"I am the Dark Lord's most loyal servant! You cannot keep me here!" She screamed as she shook at the bars of her cell. But it was no use. No one was there to listen to her scream except dementors and other psychotic inmates.

Bellatrix used all that was left of her dwindling strength to pull at the bars, hoping to shift them just far enough apart for her skeletal body to fit through, but she struggled in vain and fell to a limp heap on the floor. As devastation washed over her body and crashed against her resolve like the waves far beneath her cell, Bellatrix pulled her legs towards her chest and wrapped her arms around them.

Bellatrix had lost count of the number of days she has wasted, spent in her cell in Azkaban. As another day pulled to a close, she used her fingernails, which had grown so long that they resembled the claws of a phoenix to carve another tally into the wall of her shadowed cell. The entire wall was now covered with erratic groupings of five-stroke tallies, barely visible in the glowing moonlight.

Without consciously recognising what she was doing, Bellatrix began rocking forwards and back chanting, "he will come for me…he needs me…I am wanted.." Bellatrix whispered to herself, over, over and over again. Incessantly she scratched at the cobbled floor of her cell and continued her chant "he will come for me…he needs me…I am wanted."

But sometimes the chant was not enough.

Bellatrix's deeply hooded eyes could not find the strength to stay open and she surrendered, letting them fall shut. Bellatrix's rocking slowed as she fell into a mental haze and remembered her true purpose, which she would help _Him_ fulfill once she was no longer caged like an animal in her cell.

"Kill Mudbloods…Please _Him_…Kill muggle-lovers…Please _Him_…End Harry Potter…Please _Him_."

Suddenly the screaming down the corridor started again. This time the scream was more layered, more traumatic, and more powerful. Bellatrix felt a searing burning in her forearm, as though every nerve in her limb was being severed at once. Bellatrix ripped the sleeve of the tattered gown she was wearing to reveal the dark mark etched into her skin. As the mark began to move Bellatrix traced the outline of the snake and skull, slowly and skillfully, reveling in the pleasure that the thought of Voldemort gave her.

"He is coming for me," she thought to herself.

Bellatrix traced the dark mark harder as the pain pulled at her desire to be with _Him _again. She scratched harder, trying to get closer to _Him_. Bellatrix scratched so hard that her forearm began to bleed, but she enjoyed the pain.

Bellatrix closed her eyes, pulled back her lips, snarled and slowly licked at the wounds her fingernails had created. Taking in the taste of every drop of her pure blood, Bellatrix was reminded of her kills of the past that she had committed in _His _name and the good that they had brought the wizarding world.

Suddenly a magnificent crashing noise was heard from the other side of the prison. All the candle light in the corridor outside Bellatrix's cell went out, which was followed by a loud whirring as dozens of dementors flew down the corridor. In the moments that it took for Bellatrix's eyes to adjust to the overwhelming darkness, she had formulated a plan to escape.

Bellatrix knew that wizards were stationed at the end of each corridor and they were armed. She needed a wand.

Bellatrix began to scream at the tops of her lungs. Cackling and banging her fists against the bars of her cell she drew as much attention to herself as possible.

"I am the Dark Lords servant! You cannot keep me here! Voldemort is my Lord! I will serve Him! Voldemort is coming for me!" Bellatrix roared.

The wailing was just enough to seduce the wizard guard to tell her to be quiet. His Lumos spell gradually illuminated the corridor as he crept closer to Bellatrix's cell.

"Be quiet in there!" He yelled. "I am armed and will not hesitate to curse you." He added.

Bellatrix had moved to the front most corner of her cell and waited for her prey to edge closer to the bars of her cell.

Bellatrix had anticipated that the guard would panic if he could not see her and the black out had provided enough cover for her to remain hidden in the most shadowed corner of the cell.

As the guard inched closer and closer, with his face just beyond the bars of the cell, Bellatrix seized her chance. She jumped from her corner and snarled in his face. It was just frightening enough for him to drop his wand and falter backwards.

With no hesitation she snatched the wand from the cobbled ground and screamed "Avada Kedavra!" The guard was now a broken heap on the floor, and Bellatrix's hooded eyes grew excited.

Bellatrix caressed the wand now in her possession and stroked the dark mark on her arm, hoping to make a connection with _Him_. Bellatrix used all the power from the wand she could summon to caste Deprimo at the rusting bars of her cell. The spell had enough pressure to bend the bars of her cell just enough for her to squeeze out. She knew that she would only have minutes to escape before the dementors returned from the other side of the prison.

Bellatrix ran down the corridor, ignoring the hysteric cries from the other inmates desperate to escape and shot curses at any inmate who attempted to grab her gown, wand or arm, invigorated with power.

Bellatrix used the wand to smash every window she passed screaming, "I told you He would come for me! I said you could not keep me here!" in a state of frenzied ecstacy.

Bellatrix faltered when she heard the recognisable whine of an inmate in the cell at the end of the corridor. She cried Lumos and shone the light at the pitiful heap in the back corner of the cell.

"Rodolphus" She exhaled as she realised that it was he who must have been the screaming inmate from earlier evident by the black and blue bruises that covered his limbs.

"Help me…please...Bella...my love."

As Bellatrix examined the pained expression in her husband's eyes she heard the faint whirring of dementors returning to their posts. Bellatrix knew that she would not have the time to both rescue her husband and get out alive. Although Bellatrix knew that Rodolphus would save her life before his without question and that Rodolphus would not make it through the night once word had been received that she had escaped, she could not deny that her loyalty was to _Him_. She must return to her true Master, her Lord and help fulfill his wishes.

Bellatrix tore her eyes away from what remained of her husband and continued down the corridor without so much as a goodbye or feigned apologetic glance. Bellatrix's dark mark began to burn again and her mind flashed with images of her being reunited with the Dark Lord and the death eaters. She had served her time in Azkaban and would be treated with utmost respect for her sacrifice.

As Bellatrix reached what she believed was the best possible exit from the prison dozens of dementors descended upon her. Bellatrix slammed her eyes shut and clung to warm thoughts of being reunited with _Him_ and used all the power she could conjure to scream, "Expecto Patronum."

Her wand seemed to falter. Bellatrix could not feel anything remotely powerful spring from the wand. Shaken as the dementors floated closer and closer Bellatrix attempted to cast the spell again "Expecto Patronum" she screamed, but nothing appeared from her wand.

Growing increasingly panicked, Bellatrix scrounged her mind for any possible warm thoughts. It had been years since she had held a wand, but Expecto Patronum was not a difficult spell for a witch as skilled in the Dark Arts as Bellatrix. Bellatrix could not decipher why the spell was not working.

Bellatrix used all her concentration to focus on the memory of her first kill in the name of Voldemort. She had used the Cruciatus curse on an unsuspecting middle-aged couple. Voldemort had rewarded her with a new wand. The touch of his cool skin on hers sent a warm tingling over Bellatrix's body, but no Patronus leapt from her wand.

Azkaban had concentrated all of Bellatrix's emotions into one dark plaee and every warm thought was tainted with pain, torture or death. She had no pure warm thoughts to hold on to.

Bellatrix attempted to cast every curse and stunning spell she could think of at the sea of black dementors that flew towards her but they had no impact on the hooded figures.

As the dementors descended upon the lone Bellatrix she fell to the ground, covered her head with her arms, stroked her dark mark and whispered, "he will come for me."


End file.
